National Radio Medicare/Social Security Radio Ad Campaign Launched this Week
Cutting Medicare and Social Security is NOT Fiscal ResponsibilityA new round of radio ads, part of the ?Hands Off Campaign? sponsored by The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM), began airing June 6th on radio stations in six Congressional districts nationwide: Florida?s 9th & 22nd, Pennsylvania?s 3rd & 11th, Wisconsin 7th and North Carolina?s 11th. This is what our Executive VP toldhad to say about the Florida ad campaign:
?Congressmen Bilirakis and West both voted in support of the GOP/Ryan Budget bill, which would destroy Medicare as we know it. That vote is out of touch with the vast majority of Americans of all ages and political persuasions who do not want to balance the budget by cutting Medicare or Social Security. This ad campaign is designed to remind these members of Congress that Americans do not support trading away Medicare?s guaranteed coverage for a privatized voucher system that would double seniors? costs in the future.?Max Richtman, Executive Vice President/Acting CEO
Along with their opposition to cutting Medicare, a recent Social Security poll of likely Florida voters showed that strong majorities declare they?ll support the candidate who argues for protecting this vital program rather than cutting it to pay down the debt.The Florida radio buy is just one part of the National Committee?s ?Hands Off Campaign?. Launched earlier this year, the campaign continues to organize and inform older Americans about the ongoing budget debate in Washington and its impact on programs touching the lives of virtually every family. Other elements of the campaign include:
- Engaging our large and growing communities on Facebook, Twitter and our Blog ?Entitled to Know? in a number of ways to keep the pressure on.
- Thousands of E-cards have been delivered to the key political players in Washington who are deciding the fates of these vital programs.
- The National Committee?s Truth Squad busts myths and provides the facts about Social Security, Medicare and our fiscal crisis.
- National Committee members and supporters have delivered more than 1 million letters and petitions to Congress urging Washington to preserve Social Security and Medicare rather than targeting these vital programs to balance the budget.
The National Committee has a successful track record in protecting the Social Security and Medicare benefits paid for by American workers and retirees including the fight to defeat President Bush?s proposals to privatize Social Security. By engaging and informing America?s seniors through similar ad campaigns, member mobilizations and grassroots efforts nationwide, our members have said, loud and clear, they?re ready to fight against those in Washington willing to trade away the nation?s most successful government programs.
Senator Corker Says Medicare and Social Security are “Generational Theft”
The new GOP Medicare Strategy these days appears to be if you don?t like the message just shoot the messenger. Yesterday?s Senate Aging Committee hearing provided one glimpse into this approach.NCPSSM Executive VP/Acting CEO and LCAO Chair, Max Richtman , testified yesterday before the Senate Select Committee on Aging about Older Americans Act programs, like home healthcare, Meals on Wheels, long term care ombudsman and many others. However, rather than talking about these vital programs, ranking GOP member Sen. Bob Corker was much more interested in attacking seniors organizations like ours for not supporting his legislation setting a Medicare Kill Switch with arbitrary spending caps, or the GOP/Ryan Budget bill which Senator Corker voted for or even means-testing the programs, turning them into welfare programs.Attacking seniors? organizations for representing their members is nothing new. Fiscal commission co-chair, Alan Simpson, has made a career of it. However, it?s clear GOP members in Washington are feeling the heat from their constituents, young and old alike, who do not support destroying Social Security or Medicare under the guise of deficit reduction.Starting with raucous town halls nationwide this spring followed by the election of a pro-Medicare Democrat in one of the reddest Congressional Districts in New York, it?s clear the American people understand the GOP/Ryan Budget plan would destroy Medicare and they don?t like it, period.That?s a message no amount of spin will fix and no amount of name-calling will change.
Senate Says NO to Ryan/GOP Plan to Destroy Medicare
?We applaud the Senate for turning back efforts to pass a budget which is more about ideological politics than sound fiscal policy. Americans of all ages understand we don?t have to destroy vital programs like Medicare and Social Security to be fiscally responsible. That message has been delivered loud and clear in town halls nationwide, in poll after poll, and again last night in New York?s Congressional race, where Medicare played a key role in that outcome. The GOP/Ryan budget would turn Medicare into a privatized voucher system meaning future beneficiaries would lose Medicare?s guaranteed benefit. This budget would have also shifted the rising costs of healthcare directly to seniors, doubling their healthcare costs without adequately addressing ways to contain those costs. The trigger mechanism included in this GOP budget would force the creation of legislated benefit cuts in Social Security, while also fast-tracking those provisions through Congress. The GOP/Ryan budget would have had devastating affects on millions of Americans still struggling in our weakened economy. Thankfully, the Senate understands this and has rejected this fiscal approach.?
More Money for Insurers, Higher Costs for Seniors in Medicare and the Government: Sound Sensible to You?
?Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other top Democrats want to put Senate Republicans on the record voting for ? or against ? the Ryan proposal to turn Medicare into a voucher program for seniors. Already, a few moderate Republicans ? the latest being Sens. Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska ? have bailed on it or look ready to jump.?
Politico has a good description of the political pretzel Republicans have created for themselves by opposing efforts to reduce healthcare costs in the Affordable Care Act while at the same time supporting the destruction of Medicare as we know it as ?sensible?.
?Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he?ll vote for the Ryan budget, adding during an appearance on ?Fox News Sunday? that the Medicare voucher plan is a ?very sensible way to go to try to save Medicare.?
The Senate will vote on the Ryan/GOP Budget plan this week; however, it is clear GOP Senators are not enthused about this vote. No wonder. Americans understand that replacing a guaranteed health benefit in Medicare with the GOP/Ryan Couponcare plan is anything but ?sensible?. Turning Medicare over to private insurers who will charge more to cover less is not ?sensible?. And while putting private insurance companies in control of seniors? healthcare will certainly be good for business it?s terrifying for retirees whose costs will double. While all of this happens? the government actually pays more.The Center for Economic Policy Research reports:
?The Congressional Budget Office?s (CBO) projectionsimply that the Ryan plan would add more than $30 trillion to the cost of providing Medicare equivalent policies over the program?s 75-year planning period. This increase in costs ? from waste associated with using a less efficient health care delivery system ? has not received the attention that it deserves in the public debate The plan will lead to seven dollars of waste for every dollar saved by the government. While Ryan shifts $4.9 trillion in health care costs from the government to Medicare beneficiaries, this number is dwarfed by a $34 trillion increase in overall costs to beneficiaries that is projected based on the Congressional Budget Office?s analysis.?
Sound sensible to you?
Welcome to Wall Street Journal’s Social Security Dream World
It’s never a surpise to see yet another Wall Street Journal opinion writer extolling the values of privatization, vouchers and the demonization of the average American. However, this opinion piece written by former member of the Reagan administration was particularly ridiculous. In a nutshell, he claims that American seniors will become millionaires thanks to Social Security and Medicare. No, really—that’s what he said.
Readers may recall the 1950s TV show, “The Millionaire,” which portrayed stories of individuals who were given a “no strings attached” gift of money by an anonymous benefactor. Each week in one of the show’s opening scenes, a man representing the wealthy benefactor, John Beresford Tipton Jr., knocked on an unsuspecting recipient’s door and announced: “My name is Michael Anthony and I have a cashier’s check for you for one million dollars.”That TV program is scheduled to return next year as a reality show, and the new recipients will be the typical husband and wife who reach age 66 and qualify for Social Security. Starting next year, this typical couple, receiving the average benefit, will begin collecting a combination of cash and health-care entitlement benefits that will total $1 million over their remaining expected lifetime.
Alternet provides an easy to understand description of why this analysis is flat-out wrong:
All of this, Cogan says, is according to his own calculations based on government data. It’s all wrong, however, and while it’s often difficult to say with any certainty whether someone is intentionally lying to people or simply making an honest error, in this case it’s clear.Cogan’s sleight of hand is simple: when he gives the amount this average couple paid into the two programs, he adjusts for inflation to current dollars. On the benefits side, he doesn’t ? he uses future dollars, which results in a larger number. John Cogan is a professor of public policy at Stanford University; every one of his students knows that he or she would get an F comparing inflation adjusted numbers on one side of the ledger to nominal dollars on the other ? it’s apples and oranges and it’s about as mendacious as one can get.
Our Executive VP and Acting CEO, Max Richtman, also challenges the clearly political inter-generational warfare angle of this piece in his letter to Wall Street Journal editors. Since there’s not a chance his letter will ever see print, we offer it to you here:
Dear Editor:Maybe John Cogan?s neighborhood is full of ?Millionaire Retirees? (The Millionaire Retirees Next Door, May 12th) but out here in the real world, one out of three seniors in the United States is economically insecure and living under twice the federal poverty line, at $22,000 per person. Contrary to Cogan?s ?greedy geezer? mythology, the average annual Social Security check is a modest $14,000 and it doesn?t come from an ?anonymous benefactor?.While portraying Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries as millionaires fits the absurd rhetoric so popular in conservative circles these days, it conveniently ignores the reality that working Americans of all ages and political parties understand: the government doesn?t fund Social Security, workers and their employers do. Social Security keeps millions of families from poverty each year while Medicare provides life saving health coverage for a population which private insurers won?t serve without massive government subsidies. No one is getting rich on Social Security and Medicare, although clearly Wall Street and private insurance companies would like to do exactly that, while also passing the bill along to middle-class America.Max RichtmanExecutive Vice President/Acting CEONational Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare10 G Street, NE, Suite 600Washington, DC 20003(202) 216-8378
National Radio Medicare/Social Security Radio Ad Campaign Launched this Week
Cutting Medicare and Social Security is NOT Fiscal ResponsibilityA new round of radio ads, part of the ?Hands Off Campaign? sponsored by The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM), began airing June 6th on radio stations in six Congressional districts nationwide: Florida?s 9th & 22nd, Pennsylvania?s 3rd & 11th, Wisconsin 7th and North Carolina?s 11th. This is what our Executive VP toldhad to say about the Florida ad campaign:
?Congressmen Bilirakis and West both voted in support of the GOP/Ryan Budget bill, which would destroy Medicare as we know it. That vote is out of touch with the vast majority of Americans of all ages and political persuasions who do not want to balance the budget by cutting Medicare or Social Security. This ad campaign is designed to remind these members of Congress that Americans do not support trading away Medicare?s guaranteed coverage for a privatized voucher system that would double seniors? costs in the future.?Max Richtman, Executive Vice President/Acting CEO
Along with their opposition to cutting Medicare, a recent Social Security poll of likely Florida voters showed that strong majorities declare they?ll support the candidate who argues for protecting this vital program rather than cutting it to pay down the debt.The Florida radio buy is just one part of the National Committee?s ?Hands Off Campaign?. Launched earlier this year, the campaign continues to organize and inform older Americans about the ongoing budget debate in Washington and its impact on programs touching the lives of virtually every family. Other elements of the campaign include:
- Engaging our large and growing communities on Facebook, Twitter and our Blog ?Entitled to Know? in a number of ways to keep the pressure on.
- Thousands of E-cards have been delivered to the key political players in Washington who are deciding the fates of these vital programs.
- The National Committee?s Truth Squad busts myths and provides the facts about Social Security, Medicare and our fiscal crisis.
- National Committee members and supporters have delivered more than 1 million letters and petitions to Congress urging Washington to preserve Social Security and Medicare rather than targeting these vital programs to balance the budget.
The National Committee has a successful track record in protecting the Social Security and Medicare benefits paid for by American workers and retirees including the fight to defeat President Bush?s proposals to privatize Social Security. By engaging and informing America?s seniors through similar ad campaigns, member mobilizations and grassroots efforts nationwide, our members have said, loud and clear, they?re ready to fight against those in Washington willing to trade away the nation?s most successful government programs.
Senator Corker Says Medicare and Social Security are “Generational Theft”
The new GOP Medicare Strategy these days appears to be if you don?t like the message just shoot the messenger. Yesterday?s Senate Aging Committee hearing provided one glimpse into this approach.NCPSSM Executive VP/Acting CEO and LCAO Chair, Max Richtman , testified yesterday before the Senate Select Committee on Aging about Older Americans Act programs, like home healthcare, Meals on Wheels, long term care ombudsman and many others. However, rather than talking about these vital programs, ranking GOP member Sen. Bob Corker was much more interested in attacking seniors organizations like ours for not supporting his legislation setting a Medicare Kill Switch with arbitrary spending caps, or the GOP/Ryan Budget bill which Senator Corker voted for or even means-testing the programs, turning them into welfare programs.Attacking seniors? organizations for representing their members is nothing new. Fiscal commission co-chair, Alan Simpson, has made a career of it. However, it?s clear GOP members in Washington are feeling the heat from their constituents, young and old alike, who do not support destroying Social Security or Medicare under the guise of deficit reduction.Starting with raucous town halls nationwide this spring followed by the election of a pro-Medicare Democrat in one of the reddest Congressional Districts in New York, it?s clear the American people understand the GOP/Ryan Budget plan would destroy Medicare and they don?t like it, period.That?s a message no amount of spin will fix and no amount of name-calling will change.
Senate Says NO to Ryan/GOP Plan to Destroy Medicare
?We applaud the Senate for turning back efforts to pass a budget which is more about ideological politics than sound fiscal policy. Americans of all ages understand we don?t have to destroy vital programs like Medicare and Social Security to be fiscally responsible. That message has been delivered loud and clear in town halls nationwide, in poll after poll, and again last night in New York?s Congressional race, where Medicare played a key role in that outcome. The GOP/Ryan budget would turn Medicare into a privatized voucher system meaning future beneficiaries would lose Medicare?s guaranteed benefit. This budget would have also shifted the rising costs of healthcare directly to seniors, doubling their healthcare costs without adequately addressing ways to contain those costs. The trigger mechanism included in this GOP budget would force the creation of legislated benefit cuts in Social Security, while also fast-tracking those provisions through Congress. The GOP/Ryan budget would have had devastating affects on millions of Americans still struggling in our weakened economy. Thankfully, the Senate understands this and has rejected this fiscal approach.?
More Money for Insurers, Higher Costs for Seniors in Medicare and the Government: Sound Sensible to You?
?Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other top Democrats want to put Senate Republicans on the record voting for ? or against ? the Ryan proposal to turn Medicare into a voucher program for seniors. Already, a few moderate Republicans ? the latest being Sens. Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska ? have bailed on it or look ready to jump.?
Politico has a good description of the political pretzel Republicans have created for themselves by opposing efforts to reduce healthcare costs in the Affordable Care Act while at the same time supporting the destruction of Medicare as we know it as ?sensible?.
?Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he?ll vote for the Ryan budget, adding during an appearance on ?Fox News Sunday? that the Medicare voucher plan is a ?very sensible way to go to try to save Medicare.?
The Senate will vote on the Ryan/GOP Budget plan this week; however, it is clear GOP Senators are not enthused about this vote. No wonder. Americans understand that replacing a guaranteed health benefit in Medicare with the GOP/Ryan Couponcare plan is anything but ?sensible?. Turning Medicare over to private insurers who will charge more to cover less is not ?sensible?. And while putting private insurance companies in control of seniors? healthcare will certainly be good for business it?s terrifying for retirees whose costs will double. While all of this happens? the government actually pays more.The Center for Economic Policy Research reports:
?The Congressional Budget Office?s (CBO) projectionsimply that the Ryan plan would add more than $30 trillion to the cost of providing Medicare equivalent policies over the program?s 75-year planning period. This increase in costs ? from waste associated with using a less efficient health care delivery system ? has not received the attention that it deserves in the public debate The plan will lead to seven dollars of waste for every dollar saved by the government. While Ryan shifts $4.9 trillion in health care costs from the government to Medicare beneficiaries, this number is dwarfed by a $34 trillion increase in overall costs to beneficiaries that is projected based on the Congressional Budget Office?s analysis.?
Sound sensible to you?
Welcome to Wall Street Journal’s Social Security Dream World
It’s never a surpise to see yet another Wall Street Journal opinion writer extolling the values of privatization, vouchers and the demonization of the average American. However, this opinion piece written by former member of the Reagan administration was particularly ridiculous. In a nutshell, he claims that American seniors will become millionaires thanks to Social Security and Medicare. No, really—that’s what he said.
Readers may recall the 1950s TV show, “The Millionaire,” which portrayed stories of individuals who were given a “no strings attached” gift of money by an anonymous benefactor. Each week in one of the show’s opening scenes, a man representing the wealthy benefactor, John Beresford Tipton Jr., knocked on an unsuspecting recipient’s door and announced: “My name is Michael Anthony and I have a cashier’s check for you for one million dollars.”That TV program is scheduled to return next year as a reality show, and the new recipients will be the typical husband and wife who reach age 66 and qualify for Social Security. Starting next year, this typical couple, receiving the average benefit, will begin collecting a combination of cash and health-care entitlement benefits that will total $1 million over their remaining expected lifetime.
Alternet provides an easy to understand description of why this analysis is flat-out wrong:
All of this, Cogan says, is according to his own calculations based on government data. It’s all wrong, however, and while it’s often difficult to say with any certainty whether someone is intentionally lying to people or simply making an honest error, in this case it’s clear.Cogan’s sleight of hand is simple: when he gives the amount this average couple paid into the two programs, he adjusts for inflation to current dollars. On the benefits side, he doesn’t ? he uses future dollars, which results in a larger number. John Cogan is a professor of public policy at Stanford University; every one of his students knows that he or she would get an F comparing inflation adjusted numbers on one side of the ledger to nominal dollars on the other ? it’s apples and oranges and it’s about as mendacious as one can get.
Our Executive VP and Acting CEO, Max Richtman, also challenges the clearly political inter-generational warfare angle of this piece in his letter to Wall Street Journal editors. Since there’s not a chance his letter will ever see print, we offer it to you here:
Dear Editor:Maybe John Cogan?s neighborhood is full of ?Millionaire Retirees? (The Millionaire Retirees Next Door, May 12th) but out here in the real world, one out of three seniors in the United States is economically insecure and living under twice the federal poverty line, at $22,000 per person. Contrary to Cogan?s ?greedy geezer? mythology, the average annual Social Security check is a modest $14,000 and it doesn?t come from an ?anonymous benefactor?.While portraying Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries as millionaires fits the absurd rhetoric so popular in conservative circles these days, it conveniently ignores the reality that working Americans of all ages and political parties understand: the government doesn?t fund Social Security, workers and their employers do. Social Security keeps millions of families from poverty each year while Medicare provides life saving health coverage for a population which private insurers won?t serve without massive government subsidies. No one is getting rich on Social Security and Medicare, although clearly Wall Street and private insurance companies would like to do exactly that, while also passing the bill along to middle-class America.Max RichtmanExecutive Vice President/Acting CEONational Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare10 G Street, NE, Suite 600Washington, DC 20003(202) 216-8378